Out of the Shadows
by NorseGirl23
Summary: The Age of the Wonders passed on in fire and flame with her champions long gone. Huntress was born. She was the daughter of Batman and Catwoman, and he was the soldier who sacrificed his life to save his country and was now living in a foreign time. An urban legend and history meet at the dawn of a new age.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: Please read and review!

* * *

The beginnings of a legend would start rather simply and definitely not in the way that anyone would have expected it to.

The beginnings of the Dark Knight, to the public at least, would forever be shrouded in mystery. Some would claim that he was the manifestation of the darkness found in the world, created to combat evil in all its forms. That was what some of the criminals believed. It was difficult to believe that a mortal man could strike fear into the hearts of many. People close to him knew differently. His story began when he was eight years old in the moment that his parents were coldly gunned down in an alley one night. He spent years training his body and mind in the mission of protecting the innocent. He chose the loner's path, believing it it be the safest for everybody.

It was only a matter of time before he would finally meet his match in a thief who stole priceless gems. . .and a way into his heart. A new legend was born. Their daughter.

* * *

It started when she was fifteen. Her father had recently began helping two other people. Wonder Woman, the first of the three to appear, and Superman, probably one of her father's closest friends. They were busy fighting some magic user who was trying to blot out the sun.

Helena's mother interrupted her training session, dressed as Catwoman, that night. In her arms was a bundle of red, green, and yellow clothes which she tossed to Helena.

"Get ready, Kitten," she told her. "Our city needs us while your father is gone."

Helena put on the bright clothes and green mask, feeling a sense of exhilaration about it. She had to bite back her laughter. It was so exciting. She knew the stories that her parents would tell about helping the city, and she could not wait to be a part of it, even it she was fifteen. It was so cool. The kids she went to school with thought their rite of passage was learning how to drive, but hers was helping her parents. Her mother handed her some throwing disks and grappling rope, so begins Robin.

* * *

Two robbers rounded the corner of the street, their ill-gotten goods close to them. War was that Batman was far away, practically words away. No one was there to stop them, so it made them bolder in their crimes. It was like the good old days, no Batman in sight.

One tripped over some rope that was tied across the alley, and the second looked around before he helped his companion

"Where's the money?" The first asked.

"What?" The second sounded a bit worried. The money had mysteriously vanished.

Someone wearing bright green, yellow, and red landed on the ground in front of them. A girl who had to pause to regain her balance from her landing. They paused just to stare at her. What was she thinking?

The first man pulled a gun on her, and she threw a small, silver object at it, effectively disarming him. He struggled to pull it out of the barrel of his gun. The second man tried to punch her, but she blocked him and kicked his feet out from under him, tying him up with some rope that she had. The first man tried to run, but her mother tipped with her whip.

"What the hell just happened?" He asked.

"You met me," the girl said. She paused for a moment. "Robin."

Robin and Catwoman took the stolen money back to where it belonged.

"Nice job, Kitten," her mother practically purred as she squeezed her when they were out of sight.

* * *

Bruce was in the cave, and it was strangely quiet. He did not hear Helena and Selina talking, nor did he hear Helena's music playing as she trained. It could have meant nothing. They had been planning to do something that week, so he had to work to ignore the sense of worry in the pit of his stomach. It could be nothing.

Or everything. He had a long, long list of people who would stop at nothing to harm them to get to him. Any of them could have figured that he was Batman and took his heart and his life.

The entrance to the cave opened. . .or they were out dealing with crime on their own.

He felt relief, but it was only fleeting. It only created more worry. Was she hurt? They were laughing, so that had to mean that Helena was alright. . .or they faced the Joker, but he would have known if there was a breakout of Arkham.

They came into view, and they were clearly unharmed.

"Are you insane, Selina?" He practically demanded. Bruce could never raise his voice with the two of them. "Helena could have been killed."

"Not with all her training," Selina said. Too bad that she loved to go from a whisper to a yell in one sentence. "And, I was right there."

"But I wasn't."

Selina's eyes flashed dangerously, and her face became flushed. He realized, too late, that he may have said the wrong thing.

"You're off saving the world from boogeymen," she said far too calmly. "Someone needs to take care of reality."

"Selina, we agreed -" he was trying to say.

"You agreed with yourself!"

She still looked angry with her face still being flushed, but her eyes had that playful shine to them even though she was not smiling. She was enjoying this.

"Selina, I -" he tried again, but she moved closer to him and her hands on his chest. Her smile was back. She knew that she was winning.

"Shush."

"But. . ."

"Don't you know when a cat's got your tongue?"

They were kissing, and Helena made a disgusted sound and covered her eyes.

"Guys, guys," she said. "Watch the PDA."

* * *

The seeds of Huntress's birth were sowed one night when Helena as training in the Cave by herself. A distress call broke her concentration, and she acted before her father would have tried to stop her.

Helena quickly answered it to see her father injured, and he was holding her mother. She saw blood, but she assumed it could have been his. His legs were bleeding pretty badly. They were lit by the police lights all around them. She moved closer, and she noticed that his shoulders were shaking a little.

"Dad?" She asked, quietly, kneeling in front of them.

He looked at her, and his eyes had a hopeless look to them. That was when she braced herself to look at her mother.

Her mother's eyes were closed and face expressionless, and she was not even breathing. The blood, Helena realized, was more around her stomach and chest. All that blood had been her mother's.

Her vision became blurry as she grabbed her mother's hand, maybe hoping that she was wrong and maybe she was only unconscious. Her claws were bloody showing that she had fought to her death.

"She thought it was just a trafficking ring," he told her in a voice that betrayed little emotion. "I couldn't. . .get to her in time."

Helena kissed her mother's hand, allowing herself to shed a few tears. She began to see red as she scrambled to her feet.

"Now is not the time," her father tried to stop her. "They have weapons we haven't seen before. There are too many of them."

But, Helena was beyond reason, and she wanted blood. She brushed him aside and ran into the building, not even realizing that one of the gang members had set off one of their special bombs. The building became unstable, but she was still seeing red. Helena was so hell bent on avenging her mother's death that she did not even realize that she was in over her head.

Her father knew, and he could not go after her with his legs being injured so bad. He began to feel that he could lose her that night, too. That was why he called the one person he knew would be able to save her. Bruce began to pray, to hope, both of which he knew he had not done a whole lot of lately.

Then he saw a red cape, and he allowed himself to be a little relieved.

"Thank you, Kal," he said to himself.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Please read and review!

* * *

A world away, a girl with blonde hair, bored out of her mind, began to flip through an old book. At that moment, she was peeved that her cousin would not let her out of their little hide-out. With the strange things happening around the world, he wanted to use her as their secret weapon. It was more selfish, too. A year ago, he lost his wife, the woman that she saw as her mother, in a suspicious incident that may or may not be tied to the strange events around the world. He was trying to keep his one remaining member of his birth family and race alive.

Her cousin was working on a story for his job when he received a message from Diana, Wonder Woman, that he wanted to check out. She knew enough to stay home. A lot of homework needed to be done, anyway. Her paper on the Reconstruction could not write itself.

A distress call from the one person her cousin let her answer broke her concentration, and she quickly changed into her blue with a red cape costume, one that took inspiration from her cousin's. She quickly flew to the coordinates of that distress call.

A crowd of people gathered in front of a building that was just beginning to burn. The honest police commissioner helped Batman to his feet, and they were still looking into the building inferno. She crashed through the roof to see a girl in green, red, and yellow struggling through the debris and smoke. Bits of the ceiling fell over her, and she flew to catch the burning wood.

"What -?" The girl asked in shock.

"Can you please make that a who?"

The girl started to cough, and she wrapped one arm around her waist to take her out of the building. The girl began to struggle against her.

"Let me go!" She hissed, coughing a little. "Let me go! I need to go after them!"

"I don't think that's a good idea," she said, not losing her hold on the girl. "They're long gone, and in case you're wondering, we're in a burning building."

The girl stopped struggling, and she flew them out of the building, landing them on a rooftop.

"We can still find them," the girl said. "Check the local clinics or hospitals. We need to stop them."

The girl wore the same look she wore when Lois died.

"You lost your mother."

The girl's eyes widened, and they were very bright. She nodded slowly.

"I lost the closest thing I had to a mother here," she told her, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. "I'm Supergirl, or Kara to my friends."

The girl looked at her like she was judging her. "Robin. Helena."

They did not know it then, but it was the beginning of a long and close friendship.

* * *

Helena was not allowed to leave her room during those days following. Her father and Alfred had to make sure that she did not suffer from smoke inhalation, and it gave her some time to think about losing her mother. She still had her mother's mask, and every once in a while she would look at it and try to remember something other than her mother's too calm of face.

Her mother's cat was an unexpected and constant comfort. Isis was her mother's prized cat, her one accomplice during her days as a thief. That cat liked few people, and she somehow knew that her mistress was never coming back for her.

The third day since their horrible meeting, Kara practically bonded into her room and jumped into her bed.

"Don't you knock on Krypton?" Helena asked.

Kara cackled. "Yeah." Isis sniffed the newcomer's hand before hissing at her, proving that she was not fond of Kryptonians. "Kal and Bruce are busy talking." She almost gave Helena an expectant look.

"What?" Helena asked, feeling a little bit out of touch.

"Weird stuff's been going down," Kara explained. She turned on the news, and they learned about the strange towers that were practically all around the world.

Helena noticed that there were some of the men she recognized leaving the building before she was trapped. She snapped out of her nearly catatonic state.

"That's them!" She hissed. "They killed my mother."

She scrambled out of her bed, Kara watching her in confusion, and ran to the entrance of the Cave.

"Wait, wait," Kare said. "They already know. Helena!"

Helena immediately stopped causing Kara to almost run into her. "Right, and you're hiding something."

"Um. . .no?" Kara said almost evasively. "I don't know what you're talking about."

Helena raised an eyebrow. "Tell me."

Kara breathed out. "Some kind of alien invasion."

* * *

They had only begun to plan when Diana appeared. Her husband and daughter were with her for Selina's funeral. The girl, Lyta, was told to find Kara and Helena. She only rolled her eyes, mumbling about why they needed to show so much respect to a thief.

Diana began to speak to her in rapid fire Greek, chastising her for her lack of respect. Lyta quietly left the Cave, clearly not so sure what was happening. The four began to plan their defense against the impending alien invasion.

"His name is Steppenwolf," Diana explained. "The most trusted of Darkseid's generals."

* * *

Helena and Kara were talking over Alfred's legendary cookies. It was taking awhile, but Helena was warming up to the energetic Kryptonian. She knew that someone was listening to them, Lyta Trevor.

The girl was long, long black hair was watching them with her head tipped to the side, and she seemed like she was concentrating. Instead of saying anything, she sat with the two of them. She never tried to console Helena. Maybe she knew that she did not want to be constantly reminded of that horrible night.

"If there is a war," Lyta finally said. "What will we do about it? There are only the three of them, and there are few Amazons who would even leave the Island to defend Man's Land."

Helena broke the napkin in her hands, and Karen started to play with her napkin.

The stories most kids heard made the Trinity out to be this unstoppable group. An invulnerable strong man. A warrior goddess. The darkness personified. They could do almost anything. It was why those stories became so enduring. No one would think someone like Hercules to have a family that was worried about him.

It is a funny thing about legends. They tend to blow everybody out of proportion, embellishing their strengths and minimizing their weaknesses.

Would the Trinity even make it out alive? Would they?

* * *

Selina Wayne, the legendary Catwoman, was laid to rest near where her husband's parents were resting. It was a long service for Helena and her father. It was the inward directed feeling of failing her. Not getting her in time to save her life. Not stopping her killers. The others stayed out of the way to pay their respects. The grief of the devastated family was too much to be around.

Selina was the woman who thawed the ice cold heart of Batman. Now, all they had were bittersweet memories.

* * *

All around the world strange creatures began to appear. They barely had a way to stop them. It was a non-stop onslaught.

Strange rumors were spoken during those beginning days, but really, no one really knew what to make of them. They only knew and cared about that impending threat and the fear it caused.

It was the never-ending waves of those strange creature who easily ran through the best of their armies and weapons like they were all nothing. They felt the Trinity would stop them all. Had to stop them all.

The world had lived in the Age of Wonders for those short several years, eagerly listening to to stories about the Trinity. As those years passed, more Wonders began to appear all around the world, or they seemed to have been. There were theories about many of them during the first decade, but barely anything was done to prove if the powers of an Eric Lensherr were genetic or caused by some unfortunate accident.

One man who many were not sure if he was considered to be a Wonder when they looked back at his actions years later. His name was Terry Sloane, and he could fight and was very, very good with computers. Even Howard Stark considered him brilliant. He helped the Trinity in many of their feats, and it was pretty logical to have him help fight against the strange creatures. It became very clear that he did not trust the Trinity, two thirds were more than human and the third was unstable due to his self-driven and dangerous mission. By the time the strange creatures began to appear, he had earned the Trinity's reluctant trust.

It was no surprise to anyone when his true colors came to light during the Apokolips War. He set off a weapon of Howard Stark's design, which may or may not have been based on the HYDRA weapons he may or may not have seen during World War II, on a densely populated area where a lot of the creatures congregated around one of the towers. A lot of the casualties of the war could have been linked to his victims.

He was called out for his actions by the Trinity and by S.H.I.E.L.D. of all people, and none of the weapons he was trusted to use could not work. Was Tony Stark finally growing a conscious?

Terry Sloane vanished without a trace. Probably waiting for everything to settle down before he would show his face to the world again. It was only a matter of time.

* * *

Helena was training harder during that war. Her father reluctantly agreed for her to be Robin as long as she either stayed by his side or Kara's.

Kara and her cousin, as always, tripped the alarm to the Cave, wearing solemn expressions. Diana followed, wearing no expression, but she looked like she worked to keep herself looking as calm as possible. The Amazons had all been killed, and no one was sure what happened to Lyta. They had to activate the failsafe her father had found. It had begun.


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: Please read and review!

* * *

Kara was at the other end of the world, leading a contingent of united forces against the "intergalactic boogeymen," as Helena would call them. The commander was bald and wore an eye patch, and he seemed to have been only one who had no problem with her helping them. she could tell he was coming up with a far-reaching plan that would come into being if he survived the war. Not the right kind of reaction she would have expected from a human in the middle of the worst of it.

They made their way through the ranks of the strange creatures to the tower. Kara grabbed the strange device from the commander and flew it to the tower to destroy it as the military distracted the creatures. She punched her way through two of them.

One tower down, and three to go.

* * *

It was almost the same for Kal, but he was alone, which probably was not the greatest idea. Dozens, maybe even a lot more, chased him and would not allow him to even touch that tower. He flew around and switched directions enough times for many of the creatures to crash into each other. His eyes glowed red, and the tower went down.

Two to go.

He was about to fly to one of the remaining towers, but the creatures all swarmed him under. He saw no more.

* * *

Diana, despite her great grief, held her sword in one hand and her lasso in the other. She fought her way through the ranks of the creatures, and she placed the device on the tower. One more.

She was about to leave when she saw the face of the one man whose blood she thirsted for since it all began. Steppenwolf. The man who killed her people. Took her daughter. She swung her sword at him which he easily blocked, and they went like that for a little while. Then it became bloody. He stabbed her in the chest,, and when he took the moment to gloat, he allowed himself to be open for her final attack.

Thus passed Wonder Woman, fighting to the end just as her childhood allowed her to do.

One to go. . .

* * *

Helena flew the Batplane after her father, shooting down the creatures that would try to come after him. He stepped inside the tower, holding his device, and he paused only for a brief moment, thinking before he began to act.

"Helena," he said, breaking his own rule on the field. "I want to be able to make it out when I activate the failsafe."

"Dad. . ." Helena said, her voice broke as she realized what he was going to do, what he was saying. "No. . ."

"Go," he said. "Live my brave little soldier. Live."

The moment the tower blew, Helena's world shattered.

Kara found her, hours later, crying at the base of the Bat-Signal. She hugged the sobbing girl as they watched the Age of Wonders pass on.

* * *

A man walked through the destruction of a once beautiful place when he found a girl with long, long black hair staring around her in confusion. She looked so much like her mother, and he took her in, to take care of her, he told her, but he was only thinking of his plans for revenge and power. She would become his most trusted ally, and she had no memory of how much she was supposed to hate him.

* * *

The world moved on after the passing of the Trinity. During that first year, people wondered about the missing Robin and Supergirl, their hope for a better tomorrow. They disappeared without a trace the moment the Trinity died.

No one could even believe what happened in the next very long few years. To Helena, they passed in a blur, and she could only remember few parts during them.

It became pretty clear that the concerned group of people had their powers through genetics. Mutants. Politicians spent more time vilifying that minority group, conveniently forgetting about the Wonders and the good they did for the world. People became more concerned about having them close to them or their children.

An international "peace-keeping" organization that became known as S.H.I.E.L.D. went much into the forefront of the world scene. They were always there when something interesting, maybe even questionable happened. It was directed by an Army commander who distinguished himself during the so-called Apokolips War, and it seemed like he had some big plan in the works, paying close attention to those strange occurrences.

* * *

Helena grew up during those five years, still keeping up with her training. She started her own mission, continuing her parents' work, so they did not have to die in vain and helping the innocent of her city. The Bat-Signal changed from that sign of hope to a bitter reminder of better times. Robin died during the Apokolips War. She died with Batman.

"You can call yourself. . .Batwoman," Kara, now Karen, told her one day.

"No." Helena was pretty adamant about that. "You can be Superwoman."

"Ah. . .no, no," Karen replied quickly. She became pretty thoughtful for a moment. "So. . .what do you think of. . .Huntress and. . .Power Girl?"

Almost three years had past since that dreadful day. Helena was watching the news that would always go on about the so-called mutant problem or everything going on in Afghanistan. Tony Stark disappeared after the soldiers who were with him were gunned down by the very weapons he designed. No one was even sure if he was even alive.

* * *

"Miss Wayne," Obediah Stane said in a greeting that she could tell was forced to be genteel.

Her father never liked that man, and recently, Helena began to see why. He acted like he was running the company, and now with Stark gone, he believed it to be his. Stane seemed to really enjoy the fact that the company and weapons, really horrible weapons if you think about them, were under his control. He began to really throw his weight around.

That day he wanted to make some kind of with her father's company. She knew that Lucious Fox made sure that the contract was worded in such a way that only the deal would happen through her by what she found to be acceptable. A good reason why her father had trusted that man.

Stane wasted no time for negotiations, and she listened to his spiel.

"Better medical supplies and body armor," she said once he finished.

"What?" He sounded outraged.

"That's the deal."

"They could -"

"Better body armor and medical supplies would go even further than the list of weapons you gave me."

He narrowed his eyes. Clearly he did not expect her to be as shrewd as her father.

"Of course," he finally said, his voice taking a false calm tone. "To better protect our soldiers."

He abruptly left, and the personal assistant, her eyes shone too much and were too red for her to be missing just her boss, followed.

Helena noticed his ring and committed its strange details to memory.

* * *

Every night, the Bat-Signal still shone in the night sky as a constant memorial for the city's protector. As Huntress, she had finally answered it.

She based her new costume on her mothers, the white stripes, the mask. For her father, she had the cape. She kept some of her weapons from her time as Robin, the grappling rope and throwing stars, but she added a little of her mother's touch through the retractable claws in her purple gloves, and her father's of the kevlar armor, light but it kept her from getting too injured. Helena added a crossbow, finding it to be very convenient and she happened to be an expert shot.

Commissioner Gordon's eyes widened when he saw Huntress answer the signal. No one expected it to ever happen, and the detective with him made a quiet comment that she would never be enough. It was strange. That detective was never a big fan of the Dark Knight.

That night, Huntress moved through the streets that she had been in for years. It felt very familiar to her.

There was a new gang that took advantage of the void left by the Dark Knight's disappearance (no one wanted to admit that he died). They felt that they most enduring of his enemies was good to copy from. They were the Jokerz. Over that year and a half, they had gotten pretty horrible.

Huntress threw a flash bomb into the room they gathered in, and they stumbled around. She restrained each one, leaving them for the Commissioner to find.

"Oh, come on!" she heard a teen's voice yell before she left. "Really?"

"This isn't a competition."

The voice belonged to a teenaged boy in red and blue. Throughout his suit there was white threaded to look like spiderwebs, and a spider was sewn into the center of his chest.

"I was after them for weeks!"

"I'm sorry."

"No, you're not."

"Fine. There's more of them out there. Happy?"

She left the boy, and she had to think about everything that was slowly starting to happen. Helena landed on a building, and she took that time to think. That boy was the most recent that she had heard about. Things never changed too much since the Apokolips War. People with strange abilities used them to help people, but there was never that same feeling from before. Now, it was full of fear and mistrust.

"I heard you don't go by Robin anymore," a voice said from behind her. He was that strange commander that she remembered Karen telling her about.

"Robin died with Batman," she told him.

"Huntress, right?" The way he said it showed that he already knew her answer. "You've seen the worst our world can throw at us, but you've seen the great good that could happen if remarkable people worked together."

"You're trying to create your own group of heroes?"

"In a way," he admitted. "If these remarkable people work together then may they can fight the battles that we can't."

"You're asking if I would join."

"Considered, yes."

"I'll think about it."


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: Please read and review!

* * *

Tony Stark appeared, a little worse for wear, after a few long months of have been thought dead. He had the haunted eyes of someone who had been to Hell and see far too much. The bombshell he dropped during that almost infamous press conference was not much of a surprise to Helena because of how haunted he looked. Stark Industries was not going to make weapons. She had to smirk when she saw the look on Stane's face that he could not cover up while on television.

"He is planning something," Alfred explained. "He had the same look as your father when he was creating Batman."

He was right. Stark was planning something important.

Karen walked into the Cave, as always setting off the alarm systems, and she wore a very confused look.

"I was out flying tonight," she explained. "And some guy in an icy robot suit almost landed on me."

"Wanna run that by me again?"

Karen gave her a look." Some guy in an icy robot suit almost landed on me before he could fly away."

"That's weird."

"No kidding."

* * *

There was a strange light show outside of New York, and Helena and Karen checked it out. A giant robot was fighting a much smaller one.

"Get people out of the way?" Karen asked.

"Do you really have to ask?"

The lead people out of the way, narrowly avoiding the flying debris. Helena looked at the larger robot and began to mutter to herself.

"What happened now?" Karen asked her.

"The big guy's Obediah Stane," Helena explained.

"That explains everything," Karen practically deadpanned.

"It does."

"Right."

Blue light shot up into the air, and Karen narrowed her eyes.

"Whoever he is," she said. "He's dead. How are they going to spin this?"

"The smaller one's Stark," Helena said, ignoring that.

"Sometimes. . ." Karen said before shaking her head.

* * *

They watched that infamous press conference. For the first couple minutes, Stark worked to keep everything a secret. There was one reporter, however, who saw through everything. She was the only one who was sitting with her arms crossed when she asked her question.

"I'm not the hero-type," Tony answered, kind of. "Clearly."

"I never asked if you were a hero," the reporter said.

There was a small smile like she caught him in something big. For the first time in a long time, Stark was silent, probably thinking how to choose his words.

"Thing is," he said, finally. "I am Iron Man."

Helena's eyes widened. "That idiot!"

Karen started to laugh. "Hey! He did try to keep it a secret for two minutes."

"Idiot," Helena spluttered again. "Moron. Doesn't he know how dangerous that is?"

"It was just as bad for him before."

"Still!"

Karen really laughed. "You're only mad because you didn't expect it."

"Shut it."

* * *

There was a rumor of a man who could turn into a giant, green. . .something. They were only rumors, though. No one was too sure that it could actually happen or even how it would happen. It did not help that the Army and that shadowy organization that Helena was beginning to see and hear a lot of actively worked to keep it a secret. Or at least they tried to keep it a secret.

For several months, a quiet and nervous looking scientist would make his way into a different city or town, and he would try to stay hidden. An almost ruthless general, "Thunderbolt" Ross, was always following him, and they would leave considerable amounts of damage behind them.

Helena chose to keep an eye on him when he entered her city. In a way, she felt sorry for him. She learned that his transformations were never intentional, and he felt an extreme amount of guilt after over everything that he did. It was not what he asked for in life. After that little incident in Harlem, Helena found him and passed some money and a plane ticket and a boat ticket into his hands before she vanished. She gave him a chance to get off of Ross's radar and maybe even learn to control his transformations. Her mother would have done something pretty similar if she had met him.

* * *

Helena had heard about the strange atmospheric events that happened around a small town in New Mexico. She only read the vague reports and seen the strange images when she hacked into some of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s files. Thor. She could not say that she was surprised. Diana was very much a part of Greek mythology.

She was eating an ice cream cone as she vaguely listened to what Karen was telling her. Relationship woes. Again. A man in a white t-shirt and khakis ran past them, practically shoving her to the side. The ice cream fell off her cone which Karen caught and put it back. Helena was not really paying attention to her, though. Black nondescript vehicles surrounded him in the middle of the street, but he looked like he was not really registering them. He only looked around him with this horrible look of profound loss on his face. Her irritation was gone, and for some reason, she felt like she understood him.

Her interest was piqued when she saw Nick Fury speaking with him. The man's loss became even more profound. Before he left, his eyes met hers, and she felt something she never really felt before. She, rather absentmindedly, threw away her ice cream cone.

"What are you doing?" Karen asked, but she was looking back at the man who had caught her friend's attention.

"You touched it."

"So?"

"It's a human thing."

Helena would not be able to forget about that man's sorrowful but kind eyes.

* * *

She woke up way too early one morning, the day of her parents' wedding anniversary, and she just did not want to think about it too much. She changed into her running clothes and pulled her hair up. Running always helped to distract her.

It had been a few months since that day when she saw that runner is Times Square, and to say that she was curious about him would have been an understatement. She had different theories on who he could have been, but she never saw him since that day. When she started running, she only began to think about the rhythm of her breathing.

Helena did not get very far before she ran past an old gym while two people were exiting it. That runner and Fury. She stopped when she noticed that Fury made a small hand gesture.

"You're one difficult woman to get a hold of, Miss Wayne," Fury said.

"That's the idea," she replied.

He handed her the file, and she flipped through it. A glowing blue cube. A man with black hair and an evil smirk. Her blood ran cold.

"We need your set of skills," Fury told her. "To help find that object."

Her eyes narrowed, and she was tempted to tell him no and ruin whatever plan he had for the cube. She looked around them and knew that the cube could harm so many people in such a short period of time. Helena gave him a small and curt nodd before she ran off.

There was something new she needed to think about. The runner's shock at Fury showing her the file and seeking her help was enough. Whoever he was, it would be very interesting and entertaining to show what was capable of.

For the first time in almost six years, Helena's had their playful shine to them again.

She stopped by the only safehouse that Fury knew about and noticed an even thicker file waiting for her. It held the information on the others. Thor. Bruce Banner. Even Tony Stark. They did not really interest her at that moment. Steve Rogers, the legendary Captain America himself, or the runner that she knew him to be. His reaction to Times Square and his deep sadness when Fury spoke to him began to make more sense.

There was something strange going on, and she began to notice them all and questioned them. The desperate need to get that cube back and the so-called search and rescue team that was suspiciously like the scrapped Avengers Initiative.

Something big was going down, and she was starting to feel justified in not trusting Fury.


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: Please read and review!

* * *

Sleep was hard to come by for Steve. Maybe he did not need as much since he had the serum, or maybe it was from sleeping for almost seventy years straight. Whenever he tried to sleep, he would relive the war, and would think about all the people he had left behind. Every night it was the same. He would watch Bucky fall from that train. He would lead that final assault against the last HYDRA base and the Red Skull. There was that final conversation he had with Peggy, making that promise that he broke. Then there was all that ice.

It was the main reason why he was at that old gym that was not too far from his apartment. He needed to get himself tired enough that he did not even care what he would dream about. It came to a point that he broke another punching bag, forcing him to go hang another one.

"Trouble's sleeping?" The voice of Nick Fury asked him.

"I slept for seventy years, sir," Steve answered beginning to punch that new bag. "I think I've had my fill."

"Then you should be out celebrating," Fury said as Steve went to his bag, unwrapping his hands. "Out seeing the world."

Steve made an almost bitter sound. "When I went under, we were at war. When I woke up, they said that we won. Never said what we lost."

"We've made some mistakes along the way," Fury was willing to admit. "Some very recently."

"You here with a mission, sir?"

"I am."

"Trying to get me back into the world?"

"I'm trying to save it," Fury said, handing him a thin file.

The first picture was the object that had changed his life so much. A glowing blue cube.

"HYDRA's secret weapon," he said, not really sure what to think about S.H.I.E.L.D. possessing it.

"Howard fished that out of the ocean when he was looking for you," Fury explained. "He thought - what we think - it has the potential to be used for unlimited sustainable energy, and that is what the world sorely needs." Fury sounded like he was trying to convince him to understand. "There's a debriefing packet back at your apartment. There's a lot we need to bring you up to speed on if you're interested. The world's even stranger than you realized."

"At this point," Steve said, taking his bag and another punching bag. "Nothing would surprise me."

"Ten bucks says you're wrong," Fury said with a slightly more lighthearted voice before turning serious again. "Is there anything you know about the cube that we don't already know?"

:"You should've left it in the ocean."

They walked out of the gym and into the early morning hours in New York City. A young woman was out running by herself, and for a brief moment, he thought he recognized her. that when he ran through the surreal and almost alien world, he remembered running into a young woman. They had looked at each other, and he could have sworn that she seemed to have understood some of his pain.

Her eyes flashed in recognition, and she stopped running.

"You are one difficult woman to get a hold of, Miss Wayne," Fury greeted her.

"That's the idea," she said in mock sweetness.

Fury actually handed her the file, and she looked through it with a serious expression on her face.

"We need your set of skills," Fury told her. "To help find that object."

She looked like she wanted to say no, but she looked around them, thinking. The woman gave a small nod, giving Fury the file back. She looked over her shoulder as she left. With a pang of loss, Steve thought that she reminded him of Peggy. Her eyes had a willful look to them like she would do what she wanted and no one could stop her, but they held an inner strength like she had been through and seen too much. It was an inner fire that was pretty hard to ignore.

"You're getting a civilian involved with this?" Steve demanded, feeling a little outrage. He did not want anything bad to happen to someone like her.

"It's never a good idea to underestimate that one," Fury said, vaguely, but he seemed almost amused. "You'll see soon enough."

Before a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent picked him up, Steve did start to look through that thick file. He knew that Howard somehow managed to find a woman who was willing to put up with him enough to marry him, and his son named Tony created a special kind of suit because of whatever happened to him when he was missing for several months.

The young woman they had met outside the gym was a bit more of a mystery. There were old newspaper clippings about a vigilante named Batman and a former thief called Catwoman. More clipping dated much later had a brighter colored vigilante that was called Robin. If he really looked, he would have thought that the young woman looked like that Robin. There were some old videos that showed Batman working with two almost inhuman people, and the last few entries spoke of their deaths or disappearances after they fought off an invasion. There were people who were wondering whatever happened to Supergirl and Robin, and there was one that spoke about the appearance of Huntress.

He knew enough to read between the lines. Helena's life changed drastically, it looked like. Maybe she lost her father or a much loved teacher, so he could see why she understood a little of the pain he was feeling.

Still, there was nothing to tell him that he should never underestimate her.

* * *

"So, this Dr. Banner was trying to make the serum they used on me?" Steve asked Phil Coulson.

"A lot of people were," the agent answered. "Your were the world's first superhero." Steve noticed that Helena had rolled her eyes at that. "He thought that gamma radiation was the secret to unlocking to Erskine's original formula."

Steve watched a green giant rip a tank in two. "Didn't really go his way did it?"

"No," Coulson agreed, a small amount of pity getting past his neutral tone. "When he's not that thing though, he's like Stephen Hawking." Steve was not sure what that meant, and Coulson worked to choose something else to compare him to. "He's like. . .a. . .really. . .smart person." His tone became lighter. "I gotta say it's a real honor meeting you. I sort of met you. I watched you while you were sleeping." Steve raised an eyebrow, and Helena snorted. Coulson's neutral tone slipped as he floundered to recover himself once he realized what he said. "I was present while you were unconscious. . .from the ice. It's just a. . .just a huge to have you on board."

"I hope I'm the man for the job," Steve said.

"Oh, you are," Coulson said in complete faith. "I've made some modifications to the uniform."

"Uniform? Aren't the stars and stripes a little. . .old fashioned?"

"With everything that's happening," Coulson said, and he looked over to Helena before looking back to him. "And everything that would come to light, we could use a little old fashion."

He left Steve to think about what he had said. Steve noticed that Helena sat with her eyes half-closed, but she still looked alert."

"Miss Wayne," he said.

She gave a half-smile and raised an eyebrow at him. "So polite, but you can call me Helena. I won't be offended." She opened her eyes, and they shone playfully. "You're wondering how someone like me can handle what's happening."

"Not like. . .yes," Steve admitted. "How did you figure that out?"

"Secrets of the trade," Helena said playfully before she was serious again. "My parents trained me my whole life. Body and mind." A look of pain crossed her face, and her eyes had a faraway look to them. "I've been through much worse."

Steve knew enough not to touch that. The way she said it and that look of pain helped him realize that he was not the only one who did not like talking about the pain in the past.

Their jet landed, and the two of them followed coulson to a red headed agent.

"Agent Romanoff," Coulson greeted her. "Captain Rogers and Helena Wayne."

"Hi," she said, sounding unimpressed. Helena's eyes narrowed as the agent spoke with them, reading what she did or did not say. "They need you on the bridge. They're starting the face trace." Coulson quickly left them, and the two of them followed the woman to a nervous looking scientist. "There was quite a buzz around here getting you out of the ice. I thought Coulson was going to swoon. Has he asked you to sign his Captain America trading cards, yet?"

"Trading cards?" He asked in surprise.

"They're vintage," the agent said with a half smile. "He's very proud."

Steve walked over to the man he knew to be Bruce Banner and shook his hand.

"Dr. Banner. Word is you can find the cube."

"Is that the only word on me?" The scientist asked as he reluctantly shook the soldier's hand.

"The only word I cared about."

Steve saw that Helena was wearing a thoughtful look when she was looking at him.

"Doesn't this all feel strange to you?" Banner asked, looking around them.

"Actually," Steve said, noticing a sight that reminded him of his days while training for the Army. "This feels a little familiar."

Romanoff gave a knowing smile. "You might want to step inside. It's going to get a little hard to breathe."

"Is this a submarine?" Steve asked in wonder as he began to look around them.

"Really?" Banner said in a self mocking tone as the two men went to the side of the ship. "They want me in a submerged metal container?" They saw the wind turbines as the ship began to fly into the air, and Banner gave a dark laugh. "Oh, no. This is much worse."

Helena walked over to the edge as well. "You'll do fine, Doc."

"What makes you think that?" Banner asked her, and he began to act like he recognized her.

"You wouldn't have agreed to come if you didn't think you could handle it."

Steve looked at her, and maybe for the first time that day he began to wonder if there was more to her than met the eye.


	6. Chapter 6

A/N: Please read and review!

* * *

"You can help find the cube?" Banner asked her.

"I think you have that covered," she told him. "I'm here more to steal it back."

"You were the one who gave me those tickets," Banner said, and there was an accusation in his tone.

"As long as that general would chase and goad you," Helena explained. "Then you never would get a moment's peace."

He still did not look too convinced, but Helena knew that he would always mistrust anything people would do for him. It was his curse.

They walked into the bridge, and different agents were bustling around them getting the ship ready. Steve looked around him in wonder, trying to take in everything at once. Banner was still too nervous in his new surroundings, trying to avoid direct eye contact with the armed guards. Romanoff crouched next to a computer, looking rather intently at a picture of the agent under Loki's spell. Helena heard Banner Fury the information needed to find the cube, and Romanoff led him to the labs.

"Still seem familiar?" Helena asked Steve.

Steve chuckled a bit. "You heard that?"

"I can read lips."

He looked baffled for a moment. "There was little about you."

"That was deliberate," She said. Helena smiled up at him. "Pay close attention, Soldier Boy. You might just learn something."

He gave her a bewildered look.

An agent looked up from his computer. "We got a hit. Stuttgart, Germany. He isn't exactly hiding."

Fury looked at Helena and Steve. "You're up."

* * *

On the jet, Helena looked so serious, no smiling or saying any playful banter with him during that whole flight to Germany, and she seemed to be deep in thought. The gloved fingers of her left hand would run over her crossbow or played with one of the bolts to it.

Steve shielded the only man in the crowd from being shot by Loki's spear. Slowly, people around them got to their feet, feeling emboldened by his sudden appearance. The blast bounced off his shield knocked Loki to the ground.

"You know, the last time I was in Germany," Steve said to the struggling Asgardian. "And saw a man standing above everyone else, we didn't exactly see eye to eye."

Steve had no idea what happened to Helena. One moment she was right behind him, and the next she was completely gone. He worked to fight the worry that would bubble up.

"The soldier," Loki mocked. "The Man Out of Time."

"I'm not the one who's out of time," he said, and the jet made its appearance.

"Loki," Natasha's voice came over their heads. "Drop the weapon and stand down."

Helena appeared, kicking the spear out of his hands and rolling away with it. Steve and Loki started fighting, and rock music came over the PA systems. Iron Man shot at Loki, knocking him to the ground.

"Make your move, Reindeer Games," Stark told him. Loki raised his arms in surrender and his armor began to vanish. "Good move."

Helena watched Loki be escorted onto the jet, and she did not look happy. Her mouth was pressed into a frown.

"Where did you run off to?" Steve practically demanded. He grabbed one of her arms as she began to walk to the jet.

"Loki was the distraction," she said, pulling her arm free. Stark was listening intently to her speak. "One of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s finest stole some iridium."

"Helena Wayne," he said. "I knew we ran in the same circles, but I never would have guessed this many."

She chose to ignore Stark, not really wanting to listen to him talk at her.

Loki's surrender bothered him. He had no need to give up; he clearly had the upper hand. Stark gave up trying to talk to Helena, proving that even a Stark would grow tired of hearing his own voice, and he too started watching their gleeful prisoner. Steve was not the only one who seemed to be bothered by Loki's surrender.

"I don't like it," Steve finally said out loud. "I don't remember it being that easy. That guy sure packs a wallop."

Stark raised an eyebrow. "Still you're pretty spry for an older fellow. What's your secret? Pilates?"

"What?"

"It's like calisthenics," he explained. "You might have missed a couple things doing time as a. . .capsicle."

"You're giving him a hard time about that?" Helena asked as she watched Natasha and the pilot make agitated movements in the cockpit.

"We're joking around," Stark defended.

The two men could also tell that something was happening outside. The distant sound of thunder could be heard as Loki cowered into his seat.

Steve could see that there was a look of apprehension on the Asgardian's face. "Not scared of a little lightning, are you?"

Loki looked around him like he was making sure the jet was secure. "I'm not overly fond of what follows."

There was a very bright flash of lightning, and the jet shook with the sudden landing of something big.

"Another Asgardian?" Natasha asked back to them.

"That guy's a friendly?" Steve asked, grabbing his shield.

"It doesn't matter," Stark said. "If frees Loki or kills him, the Tesseract's lost."

Stark opened the jet, and a tall blonde man swooped into the jet and grabbed Loki, using his hammer to the three down. Steve worked to protect Helena from the hammer. The newcomer twirled the hammer and flew out of the the jet.

"Stark," he said. "We need a plan of attack."

"I have a plan. Attack." Stark flew out of the jet.

Steve almost let out a long-suffering sigh, grabbed a parachute as Natasha tried to talk him into staying. He refused to listen and jumped out of the jet, to break up the fight if he had to.

* * *

"You're not going after them, too, are you?" Natasha asked, looking over her shoulder.

"He's got it handled," Helena said. She was looking out the front of the jet. "Pay close attention to Loki. Looks like the boys are busy."

The agent angled the jet in a way that would allow them to watch Loki's every movement, and the Asgardian did not move though he remained unrestrained, and he seemed to be enjoy watching Stark and his brother fight. Helena watched the scene, and narrowed her eyes. What was his plan?

"You have faith in him?" Natasha's voice broke her concentration.

"And you don't?"

"Times have changed."

Thor leapt into the air and hit Steve's shield with his mighty hammer. A bright blue forced knocked the trees to the ground. It created a stalemate between the three of them.

"Maybe you don't give him enough credit."

Helena could not forget how he did not even flinch away from Thor's hammer, only standing his ground. He protected her when Thor knocked them to the ground, and Steve had to make sure she was safe before he tried to coordinate a plan with Stark. Helena was not sure what to think about that and about him. Natasha may not have been too far off, but Helena had a feeling that faith was not quite close enough. Trust?

* * *

Loki was led into a special prison cell on the Helicarrier where he mocked Fury on all the work wasted on the cube before mocking the team that Fury had assembled together. Loki made a small jab at Banner, though the good doctor gave a light chuckle. Helena watched the whole thing with some interest. They were still trying to figure out what Loki's plan was. Helena's sneaking off in Germany may have helped them figure out a part of it. A large portal to get a huge alien army to Earth.

If she was still wearing her mask, Steve would have missed it. Her face went pale when Thor talked about the Chitauri. she had that faraway look to her eyes, again. When Banner took Stark to the lab, Helena dashed out of the bridge, and Steve followed her, maybe hoping that she would trust him enough to tell him why it bothered her. They left Thor to stare deeply at the night sky.

Steve found her sitting against the wall, absentmindedly playing with her mask. Her shoulder were shaking a little, and she covered her face with her free hand. It was a shock to see the normally composed young woman just breaking down so suddenly. He found himself sitting next to her, not sure what to say to her to her. During his tours with USO, he would find one of the chorus girls crying, and more often than not, he only made her feel worse when he tried to help her.

He wrapped an arm around her shoulders, and instead of pulling away, she moved closer and started crying into his shoulder. Helena had a tight hold on his arm. Helena stiffened in his arms when she realized what was happening. she began to force herself to calm down, and she steadied her breathing as she pulled away from him.

"I'm sorry," she mumbled, wiping her eyes, and she gave a watery sigh.

"Don't be," he said, gently. "Was talking about the Chitauri bothering you?"

She grimaced. "Not them. Just. . .an invading army. . ."

Her eyes had that faraway look in them as they shone with unshed tears. Steve remembered the vague articles in her file.

"No one really talks about it," Steve chose his words carefully. "What happened during the Apokolips War?"

He expected her to cry or hotly refuse to speak about it. Instead, she chose to tell him what happened. Her voice cracked when she told him how it ended with her losing her father.

"I've been. . .been thinking about it a lot, lately," she admitted. "And Loki's not helping things." She closed her eyes in pain and leaned back against the wall.

She ran a hand across her eyes, still working to compose herself. It took her awhile, but she gave him a small, thankful smile. A real smile that made him have to blink a couple times. Helena was stunning, so full of life. She scrambled to her feet and walked off, looking at him over her shoulder as she went.


	7. Chapter 7

A/N: Please read and review!

* * *

Helena found herself thinking about Steve. Why would she tell him everything? She could have lied, should have lied. No, she cried into his shoulder and told him almost everything. He listened, never holding it against her, and his gestures and the way he looked at her showed that he cared about the pain she was going through. He was trying to help her even though he was not too sure what to do.

For the past five years, Helena had to be strong. Strong for Karen, and though he refused to even admit it, strong for Alfred. She could not really show the pain she had been feeling. It was never done. The world changed, and she had to act like she was changing with it.

"As soon as we knew that Loki took Erik Selvig," Helena heard Coulson tell Thor. "We moved Jane Foster to a more secure location. Yesterday, she was called suddenly to work at an observatory. Handsome fee and very remote."

"Thank you," Thor said, looking at the woman's picture. "It is no accident, Loki taking erik Selvig. I dread what he plans for him when he is finished with him."

"He talks about you a lot," Coulson said. "You changed his life, changed everything around here."

Helena still listened to their conversation, and two of her suspicions were confirmed. Loki really wanted to be around them, and whatever happened when Thor was in New Mexico mixed with the Apokolips War had even Fury on edge.

Why would they want that cube?

She could hear yelling coming from the direction of the lab, and she made her way to that direction. Steve, with a look of righteous indignation, was chewing Stark out for trying to get the Hulk to come out. Helena stepped in unnoticed.

"Why did Fury call us in? Why now? Why not before?" Stark asked the irritated captain.

"You think Fury's hiding something?" Steve asked.

"He's a spy," Stark answered. "He's The Spy. His secrets have secrets. It's bugging the two of them, isn't it?"

Banner tried to deflect the attention away from him, so Helena agreed.

"It seems a little. . ." She was having problems finding the right description. "Every time Fury and a lot of the agents have said something, it seems a little off." She got a look of approval from Stark who offered her some blueberries. "I have no reason to trust Fury."

"Why didn't they bring you," pointing at Stark, "to the Tesseract project? What are they even doing in the energy business in the first place?"

Stark only shrugged and pulled out a device. "I should probably look into that once JARVIS finishes breaking into all of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s secure files."

"I'm sorry did you just say -" Steve tried to say.

"Been running it since I hit the bridge," Stark nonchalantly said, popping blueberries into his mouth.

"In a few hours, I'll know every dirty little secret S.H.I.E.L.D. has tried to hide. Blueberry?"

"And yet you were confused on why they didn't want you around," Steve almost accused.

"An intelligence organization that fears intelligence?" Stark asked, trying to make his point. "Historically not awesome."

"Loki's trying to wind us up. He's trying to start a war, and if we don't stay focused, he'll succeed," Steve said in a very serious tone. "We have orders. We should follow them."

"Following's not really my style," Stark remarked, eating more blueberries.

"And you're all about style, aren't you?"

"Of the people in this room," Stark said, a little irritated. "Who's a) wearing a spangly outfit and b) of no use?"

Helena made a face at Stark. "Steve? Isn't this all a little strange to you?"

She could see it in his eyes. He was just as suspicious of the people who had kept HYDRA's secret weapon during all those years.

"Just find the cube," he muttered to them before he turned to leave the lab.

Helena was about to follow him, but she stopped herself. He had a look of concentration, and she knew that he was going to do some investigating of his own.

Stark was not so impressed. "Is that the guy my dad never shut up about? I'm wondering if maybe they should have left him on ice.

Helena listened to Stark, rather subtly, tell Banner that the Hulk did not have to be a monster, and he good do some good as him. Banner may have acted differently, but Stark's words were taken to heart or at least silently considered. Helena had to rethink the opinion she held of Stark.

* * *

A few hours had past, and Stark had read through most of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s secret files. Fury swept into the lab, and he looked pretty angry.

"You're supposed to be looking for the cube, Mr. Stark," Fury said. He looked like he was really working to keep himself calm.

"I will lock on within the closest half mile," Stark brushed him off. "What is Phase Two?"

"Phase Two is S.H.I.E.L.D. uses the cube to make weapons," Steve said when he stormed into the lab. He carried an old weapon and he looked very angry. "Sorry. Computer was moving a little slow for me."

Fury worked to school his expression. "Just because we collected everything to do with the Tesseract, does not mean -"

"I'm sorry, Nick," Stark interrupted, being anything but. They the plans for a warhead. "What? Were you lying?"

That was when Natasha and Thor slipped into the lab.

"You want to remove yourself from the situation?" Natasha asked Banner.

"I was in Calcutta," Banner remarked. "I was pretty well removed."

"Loki is manipulating you."

"And, you're doing what exactly?"

"You're not here because I batted my eyelashes at you," Natasha said.

"And I'm not leaving because you're getting twitchy. I want to know why S.H.I.E.L.D. is using the cube to make weapons of mass destruction."

Fury stared at the expectant group, deciding what he should say or not. "There were a lot of things. We barely survived the Apokolips War, and then," he pointed to Thor. "There was a grudge match that nearly leveled an entire town. We're still hopelessly. . .hilariously outgunned."

Steve looked to Helena, angry eyes softening a little bit.

"Our people want nothing but peace with you kind," Thos explained.

Fury shook his head. "You're not the only people out there or the only threat. The whole world is starting to fill with people who can't be matched."

"And your arsenal plan would work just fine," Helena deadpanned. "What could possibly go wrong? Oh wait. . ."

They broke into a confused argument. Insults and accusations were thrown around, and some secrets were revealed. Steve was mocking Iron Man, and Stark was saying there really was nothing special about Steve other than that serum. They were about to fight to see who was better. Helena found herself arguing with Natasha. That agent felt that S.H.I.E.L.D. and Fury were in the right and everything was being done in the greater good.

Banner was alerted to the cube's location, and he moved to the computer. It was enough to silence everyone.

"Oh my god," he said, and the ship exploded.


	8. Chapter 8

A/N: Please read and review!

* * *

They were thrown in different directions from the blast. Steve worked to shield Helena from the flying debris. He ran a hand across her cheek before he realized what he was doing, and he helped her to her feet. Helena closed her eyes as her head began to swim, and Steve steadied her by holding her waist. She pulled away from him when she regained her balance.

"Engine three," Stark was yelling to Steve. "Meet you there."

they began to run through the chaotic hallways. Two of Loki's agents went to shoot at them. Helena stopped running and pulled out two small and shiny objects from her belt and threw them at their guns. The two objects blew up, and their guns became useless. She fought the two of them and motioned Steve to move on, that she would be fine on her own. Steve, despite everything happening around them, hesitated like he did not want to leave her. In the end, he ran to where Stark was, and Helena began hoping that nothing would happen to him.

* * *

Helena ran to the bridge as Fury was giving orders to a man working to navigate the ship. Apparently, that man relied solely on that one device and was at a loss when it did not work properly. Helena shoved that man out of her way and worked to move the ship over water.

Hill motioned to some agents to follow her and help with the evacuation in a different part of the ship, but she stopped them when she saw a grenade roll in front of them, blowing a part of the bridge up. More of Loki's agents ran into the bridge, and the more enemies that ran into view, the more would get shot by Fury or tripped up by one of Helena's trick bolts. A single arrow flew over their heads and managed to short out all of the computers, and probably the cell that kept Loki, but the engines were beginning to fail. The Helicarrier began to lose altitude.

They all struggled to keep their balance. Helena was holding onto the navigation device, hoping her grip would not weaken. She could see one of the large windows was close to her, and she knew that she would fall out of it if she was not careful. No Karen to catch her fall.

Different agents worked to bring the computers back online, and Helena struggled to move her way across the bridge, trying to keep her balance. She pulled the arrow out of the main computers, and she began to help the agent. Some of the computers were running once the Helicarrier stopped falling. Fury slipped away with a medical team when she heard a distressing conversation.

"Agent Coulson is down," Fury told them.

"We're sending a medical team to your location."

"They're already here," he said, pausing for a moment. "They called it."

* * *

The three of them were sitting at the table in the wrecked bridge. Natasha was absent, wanting to be by Clint Barton's side when he regained consciousness. Stark sat with his back to them. Coulson's death had hit him pretty hard, though he would be the first to refuse it. Steve sat close to Helena, and it was like they were trying to make sure that the other was really there, really okay. Fury was standing next to the table, shuffling through some bloody trading cards.

"These were in Phil Coulson's jacket when he died," he explained, tossing them to Steve. "Guess he never did get you to sign them." Steve picked one up and stared at it, frowning. "We're dead in the air up here. Our communications. Location of the cube. Banner. Thor. I got nothing to say. I lost my one good eye. Maybe I had it coming.

"Yes, we were going to build an arsenal with the Tesseract. I never really put all my chips on that number, though. I was playing something riskier. There was an idea. . .Stark knows this. . .called the Avengers Initiative. The idea was to bring together a group of remarkable people, see if they could became a part of something more. To see if they could work together when we needed them to fight the battles we never could." Helena closed her eyes. "Phil Coulson died still believing that idea. In heroes." It was too much for Stark, and he quickly got to his feet and left. Helena placed her face in her hands. "Well, it's an old fashioned notion."

Fury left them alone, mainly to have them think on what he had told them. Steve was still looking at the cards, and with a shaking hand, Helena grabbed one. A man believed in a group of people who had no reason to fight together rather than with each other. He actually thought they could be something more, even when there were higher-ups who would much rather go the easy way out.

Helena could not sit still. She had to get to that cube and stop that invading army. There was no way she was going to go through that again. Steve grabbed her shaking hand, and he gently rubbed circles on the inside of her wrist. It was like he knew what she was thinking about. After awhile, they went after Stark.

Stark was staring at where the holding cell was kept, and his eyes would occasionally move to the wall that had a blood stain.

"Was he married?" Steve asked, knowing what was on his mind.

"No," Stark answered, not even looking in their direction. "There was a cellist. . .I think."

"I'm sorry," Steve said. "He seemed like a good man."

"He was an idiot."

"For believing?" Helena asked.

"For taking on Loki alone."

"He was doing his job."

"He could have waited. . .could have. . ."

"Sometimes there isn't a way out," steve said.

"Right," Stark said. "I've heard that one before."

"Is this the first time you lost a soldier?" Steve asked him.

Helena winced. "Don't. . ."

"We are not soldiers," Stark responded a little too hotly than either of them expected. "I'm not dancing to Fury's fife."

"Neither am I," Steve said, and Helena silently agreed. "He's got the same blood on his hands as Loki does, but we've got to put that behind us."

They looked at the blood stain on the wall.

"He made it personal," Stark said, realizing something big.

"That's not the point," Steve said.

"No. . .that is the point. He hit us all right where we live. Why?"

"Tear us apart."

"Divide and conquer's great, but he had too much glee when he talked about us," Helena remarked.

"He knows he has to take us out to win," Stark continued. "That's what he wants. He wants to beat us and be seen doing it. He wants an audience."

"Right," Steve said. "I caught his act in Stuttgart."

"That's just the previews. Loki. . .he's a full-tilt diva. He wants a parade. . .flowers. . .a memorial built to the sky with his name. . ." Stark's eyes widened, and he walked off. "Sonofabitch."

"His tower," Helena said. "Oh, and I'm coming with."

"You don't know what you're dealing with," Steve tried to talk her out of it.

"Do you?" She replied. "You know this isn't new to me."

Steve looked at her and shook his head. he was trying to understand why she would jump in the middle of everything that would remind her of the horrible day her father died.

"You could barely handle talking about the Chitauri," Steve tried to remind her.

"That's different," Helena scoffed. Her eyes flashed, and her lips pressed into a firm line.

Helena gave him a stubborn look, and he knew that he could not tell her what she could or could not do. it still did not stop him from trying. Helena moved closer to him and stood on her toes to whisper in his ear. Her hands were on his chest to steady herself.

"I told you to pay attention," she said, smiling at how fast he was breathing at her contact. "So, pay attention, Soldier Boy. I'm going to fight. No matter what."

Steve held her wrists before she could pull away from him. He was wroking to calm himself down, but she had to smile, until his hands ran down her arms and wrapped around her waist. She did not pull away from him, at first, and she rested her head against his chest and closed her eyes. When one of his hands moved to her hair and he rested his chin on the top of her head, she realized what was happening, and she pulled away from him. She would deal with that much later.


	9. Chapter 9

A/N: Please read and review!

* * *

"Time to go," Steve told Natasha in the medical bay.

"Go where?" Natasha asked.

"I'll tell you on the way. Can you fly one of those jets?"

"I can," another voice belonging to Clint Barton said.

Steve looked at Natasha who gave a small nod, and it was enough for him to trust the agent.

"Got a suit?" Barton nodded. "Then suit up."

* * *

Helena pulled out more crossbow bolts, replacing the ones she had used. She even made sure she had her bo stick, having never used it since her early days as Robin, easier to face more people with. She was trying to see how four ordinary people and a guy in a flying suit would stop an invading army of aliens led by a crazed god. Stranger things have happened, though. Maybe Stark could get to his Tower before the portal could even work.

The four of them, Steve, Helena, Natasha, and Clint, walked to one of the only jets that were still in one piece. they were an odd sight, and people did look at them strangely. The technician working on the jet looked up from his work, more in confusion than in anything else.

"Hey. You guys aren't authorized to be in here," he said.

Steve only raised his hand and sighed to keep him from saying anything more. "Son, just don't."

* * *

"Stark," Natasha said. "We're on Three heading northeast."

"What?" Stark asked, a little harried from chasing the aliens. "Did you stop for drive through? Swing up Park, and I'll lay 'em out for you."

Barton shot down some of the flying aliens as they flow closer to Stark Tower. He looked out of the window to see Thor and Loki fighting each other.

"Nat?" He asked the woman next to him. There was a hidden fury.

"I see him," she said. Her fury was less disguised.

Barton started shooting at Loki who threw his brother to the ground and shot at them. A blast of blue light hit on one of the wings, and they started losing altitude. Fast. Steve and Helena had to hang onto the more stable parts of the jet as it plummeted to the ground. Barton worked to control the falling jet, and even then, it still swiped a couple buildings. After its rough landing, the four of them scrambled out of the jet.

There was yelling, and alarms were going off. Civilians were running for cover as the aliens flew over them.

"We've got to get back up there," Steve said, his shield in hand.

Steve started running back to the Tower, and the other three followed. They stopped to watch a giant whale-like alien exit the portal. From its sides, chains shot and attached themselves to the sides of the closest buildings, and more aliens were came from its sides, hanging onto those buildings.

"Stark!" Steve said. "You seeing this?"

"Seeing, still working on the believing," Stark said, flying over them. "Where's Banner? Has he shown up yet?"

"Banner?" Steve asked, a little surprised at that question.

"Keep me posted."

* * *

They used an abandoned taxi for cover, and Barton was looking over it.

"We got civilians trapped over there," he said.

People were struggling to get to cover, barely managing to avoid getting shot by the aliens overhead. One in particular led the pack, seeming to enjoy every minute of the destruction.

"Loki," Steve said. "They're fish in a barrel down there."

Aliens surrounded them. Natasha shot at them, and Barton and Helena moved to a better location.

"We got this. It's good. Go," Natasha said.

Helena loaded her crossbow. "Got your back."

"Think you can hold them off?" Steve asked, but he was only looking at Helena.

Barton was messing with his arrows, and with a smirk he notched an arrow to his bow. "Captain, it would be my genuine pleasure."

He shot at one of the aliens, and the shock from that one arrow shocked the others. Steve ran off to help the people below. Natasha and Helena were shooting as Barton worked to get people out of a crashed bus and point them to safety.

"Just like Budapest all over again," Natasha commented to Barton.

"You and I remember Budapest very differently," he commented, never once letting up on his shooting.

Helena held out her bo stick and started knocking the aliens to the ground, causing them to shoot each other. She rolled to the ground as one overhead her tried to tackle her. Four more stopped in their tracks completely frozen.

"What was that?" Barton asked her.

"My dad had to freeze a river once," Helena answered. "Long story."

Natasha grabbed one of the aliens' weapons and began to use it against them. Barton was tackled by one, but he broke free and stabbed it with an arrow. Steve appeared, using his shield to knock even more to the ground. Lightning zapped the rest as Thor made a hard landing.

"What's the story upstairs?" Steve asked him.

"The power surrounding the cube is impenetrable."

"Thor's right," Stark told them. "We gotta deal with these guys."

"How do we do this?" Natasha asked.

"As a team," Steve said.

"I have unfinished business with Loki," Thor said.

"Yeah," Barton remarked,fixing some of his arrows that he collected from the dead aliens closeby. "Well, get in line."

"And, that's going to help absolutely no one," Helena muttered.

"Save it," Steve said. He was looking up at the sky. "Loki's going to keep this fight focused on us, and that's what we'll need. We've got Stark up top, and he'll need us -"

The sound of a dying bike interrupted him. They all turned to see Banner in ill fitting clothes made his way to them.

"Well," he said, looking around them. He was as calm as could be. "This looks horrible."

"I've seen worse." Natasha was referring to her time with the Hulk on the Helicarrier.

"Sorry."

"No," Natasha replied. "We could use worse."

"Stark," Steve said. "We've got him."

"Banner?"

"Just like you said."

"Well, tell him to suit up. I'm bringing the party to you." Stark brought the flying giant whale towards them.

"I don't see how that's a party," Natasha commented.

Banner was watching it flying towards them, still pretty calm, and he was walking towards it.

"Dr. Banner," Steve said. "Now is a really good time for you to get angry."

"That's my secret, Cap," Banner said, his eyes bright green. "I'm always angry."

He turned back and walked to the flying beast, and he grew taller and bigger. His skin soon matched his eyes. The Hulk punched the beast in the face, and it stopped moving. Stark shot at the soft spot appeared, causing it to explode. Barton and Natasha used a car for cover, and Steve used his shield to protect himself and Helena.

The army stopped their attacks long enough to yell out their challenge at the seven people who dared to face them. The Avengers stood back to back, eyeing the Chitauri. The Hulk was trying to out yell all of the aliens that were around them. Natasha was reloading her two guns, and Barton notched another arrow. Thor raised his hammer, ready for the coming battle. Steve and Helena stood back to back, and he squeezed her free hand in assurance.

"Call it, Cap," Stark said when he landed, allowing Steve to take charge.

The likes of them have never been seen since the passing of the Trinity. One investigative reporter knew of that scene, and he started to think about his next article.

The Age of Marvels would have to seem bright now that a team would harken back to the Trinity was around. He chose the name that only he knew: the Avengers.


	10. Chapter 10

A/N: Please read and review!

* * *

It was an almost never ending battle. They kept coming out of the portal. Helena ran out of bolts and batarangs, and she only had her claws and bo stick. Steve ran to a bank to deal with the aliens cornering the civilians, and she found herself following him. She watched in horror as Steve was blown out a window and landed on a car. He struggled off it, and helena ran to him, checking for any obvious signs of injury.

He looked around them and closed his eyes. She a feeling that he was praying that Natasha would find a way to close the portal. She rested a hand on his shoulder, and he rested his hand on her hand, his eyes looking into hers. It was a brief moment, and they went back to helping civilians to safety or fighting off the aliens. They both needed that look, whether they wanted to admit it or not.

Karen was flipping through the channels when she saw the dark hole tear its way into the sky over New York City. She was in New York in a blink of an eye, and Helena gestured to her. Karen started to help move people to safety, even though she could have handled the entire invading army rather easily. Helena knew that, but she knew that Karen was even better for helping with the evacuation.

She saw Helena's arm be twisted around her back by one of the creatures, and it looked pretty painful. A round shield knocked that alien to the ground, and she moved her arm in small circles like she was trying to see if it could still move. the shield's owner ran over to her, and he was talking very quietly to her. Karen could hear, and she had to smile to herself when she saw that little exchange. Helena ran off like it never happened, but Karen knew her well. Something changed for her.

* * *

There was a scientist working in his lab. As always, he was tuned out to the world around him.

"Hank!" A woman's voice brought him back to reality. "Hank, you need to see this!"

She was watching the news, and it looked like the end of the world was happening. Again.

"That's a portal," Hank remarked, his previous work completely forgotten. "Into space."

"You're kind of missing the point here," she told him, a little frustrated. "There are aliens attacking New York City. Look!"

A building crashed to the ground when one of the bigger aliens passed by it. There were seven people who helped contain the chaos and the destruction in as small an area as they could.

"That's so. . .oh no. . ." Hank said, finally realizing what was happening. "Jan, we need to do something."

"Hank, we're in Wakanda," Jan replied. "By the time we get there, it'll be over."

"Stark doesn't have to do it alone," Hank said. 'I may not like the guy. . ."

"he's not alone," Jan began to point out the seven different people fighting the aliens.

Hank grabbed the remote and pushed pause, staring at the corners of the picture, and he did not like what he saw.

"That's a nuclear missile," he practically spat out. "They're willing to wipe out New York to stop that threat."

"S.H.I.E.L.D.?"

"Yeah." He shook his head and turned off the news. "Honestly, I thought better of Fury."

Just outside of their lab in Wakanda, a quiet and calculating man waited. He had a very powerful ally who was loyal only to him. Wakanda was his goal. The special treasure could help him in his later plans.

* * *

Helena watched Stark guide the missile through the portal, and despite how abrasive that man could be, she was hoping he would pull through somehow. They saw the explosion, and all of the aliens collapsed to the ground. Stark came out of the portal just before it closed, and they all breathed a sigh of relief.

"He's moving too fast," Thor said, spinning his hammer.

The Hulk jumped and caught Stark, using a building to break their landing before unceremoniously tossing Stark to the ground. Thor ripped off the faceplate, but for once, Stark was not making and snarky comments. The light in his chest, the thing that helped keep him alive, was dark. Steve checked a pulse and tried to listen for breathing. He looked up at them with regret. The Hulk, not liking this, roared. Stark's eyes snapped open, and he took a deep breath.

"What? What happened?" He asked, eyes quickly scanning around him. "Please tell me that nobody kissed me."

Thor was fighting laughter, and Helena bit back a smirk.

"We won," Steve said, shocked despite himself.

"Oh, hey, good," Stark said. "You know? Let's not go into work tomorrow. . .let's take a day. I know this place. . ."

"We still have work to do," Thor remarked.

"Then shawarma after?"

* * *

The investigative reporter, from the comforts of his hospital bed, stared at what he wrote. It was a small article that came with the picture: seven people standing back to back, watching the aliens around them.

_"There is a new cry for the weak. 'Avengers Assemble!' We have heard of most of the individuals of this team. Tony Stark's Iron Man. The Incredible Hulk. Thor, the God of Thunder. The Living Legend himself, Captain America. The shadowy and legendary Huntress._

_"When the world saw those aliens, he could not help but remember that day when the Trinity had died, the day we lost our innocence in a way. It was the day when the so-called Age of Wonders passed. For those past few years, we saw remarkable people begin to appear again. Mutants. Spider-Man. Than later, Tony Stark told the world that he was Iron Man._

_"I will call them Marvels. Different. Not expected. Some were changed by science. Some changes could be explained by science. They were a miracle after what he saw, what we felt after the Trinity passed. Marvels._

_"We jokingly called it the Age of Wonders during those few short years that the Trinity was active, so I will be the first to say it. We are in the Age of Marvels._

_"One thing I have come to realize that day in New York City, nothing, no insane amount of aliens, will keep some people from trying to help us. It begs the question: What makes them heroes? Their power? I could name a few who were pretty human, "normal." It has to be that need to protect the weak and innocent, despite all of the odds._

_"'Avengers Assemble!' I guess you could say that a new legend was born, and we all know how much we love those."_

* * *

In a secluded area of the park, a lot of agents guarding its perimeter, two Norse gods were surrounded by six individuals, and it seemed like they were waiting for something to happen.

A glowing blue cube was gingerly place in a special container. Steve glared at the object that changed his life forever. Helena did what he did for her right before they faced the aliens. She held his hand and squeezed it. He relaxed when Thor and Loki vanished in the bright, blue light, but he still held her hand.

The Earth-bound Avengers all went their separate ways. A promise hung in the air. When the world needed them again, the would assemble to fight.

* * *

A young woman scrambled out of her van, trying to find a way to get a good look into the park. Her phone was held out in front of her as she tried to get the picture of the blue light that shot into the sky.

"How are people not noticing this?" She asked herself.

Then she saw that they were S.H.I.E.L.D., and she began to understand why. That was probably when she began to bash that agency in her Rising Tide posts.

* * *

Days after everything that happened in New York, a young man exited a plane. He wore plain but very expensive clothing, and he worked to keep himself unnoticed. It worked. The people around him were pretty simple, and they only ignored him.

For five years his mother prepared him for a different destiny than what she originally planned for him. That was why he was in America, to claim the cape and cowl of his father. The world would always need a Batman.

He heard of the group of people who fought in New York, but only one drew his interest. Huntress. Some believed her to be the Robin that disappeared when Batman died, and others would go so far as to say she was his daughter with Catwoman. They were all right. His mother never liked the girl and her mother, calling them lesser blood and never deserving the attentions of the Dark Knight. It was one of those things that she would never understand.

Huntress knew how to fight, and he would grudgingly admit, she could fight well. Strangely, despite who her father was, she was following orders. That surprised him. He would have thought she would lead them.

To him, it did not matter. The needed a Batman. He began his search for the Cave.

* * *

The reporters famed article began with the line:

_"Then there came a day unlike any other when Earth's mightiest heroes united against a common threat. On that day they became known as the Avengers."_


End file.
